The Dispute

What if four children had been kept locked away in darkness and complete isolation since birth? What if, tonight, they were to be released? How would bodies and minds reared in darkness respond to the first words, the first lies, the first kisses? What if you got to watch? Cruel, erotic and elegant by turn, The Dispute is rightly regarded as one of Marivaux’s masterpieces.

He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing numerous comedies for the Comedie-Francaise and the Comedie-Italienne of Paris. His most important works are Le Triomphe de l’amour (The Triumph of Love), Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (The Game of Love and Chance) and Les Fausses Confidences (False Admissions). He also published a number of essays and two important but unfinished novels, La Vie de Marianne and Le Paysan parvenu. Neil Bartlett is one of his generation’s most respected and innovative theatre directors. His highly individual translations of French and German classical theatre, and charcteristically theatrical adaptations of Dickens, most of them originated while he was Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London, have been played around the world. His plays have premiered at the Royal Court, at the Manchester International Festival and at the National Theatre in London.